Case Study
Vape Flavour Preference Mapping For British American Tobacco (BAT)
By Aref Munshi
Overview
In-home sequential monadic product test to explore consumer reactions to different flavour variants of e-liquid (vape).
Test Duration
Cell 1: 24 days
Cell 2: 22 days
Market
UK, Canada & Germany – Logit responsible for Canadian component.
Sample Size & Definition
All to be current nicotine users, at least daily
33% ‘solus’ vapers / 33% dual vapers and cigarette smokers / 33% cigarette smokers open to vaping. Ages 20-50
N = 750 placements (375 per Cell x 2 Cells)
The Challenge
Niche market - CAN: Estimated IR in general adult population ‘solus’ vapers = 1.5% / dual vapers & smokers = 1.5% / smokers open to vaping = 7%
COVID: initially required respondents to visit a CTL to pick-up product, had to amend to in-home drop-offs.
Originally Atlantic was to be represented by Moncton, but we found that “Flavoured pods” were banned there. Client didn’t want to only run the Tobacco Cell in that market, so Moncton was dropped.
Client program was set-up with a unique link per respondent to accommodate their rotation (11 or 12 products). Issues were program looping & freezing.
| Location | Option 6: N = 375 | Option 7: N = 375 |
|---|---|---|
| Calgary, AB | 75 | 75 |
| Vancouver, BC | 60 | 60 |
| Montreal, QC | 75 | 75 |
| Kitchener/Waterloo, ON | 60 | 60 |
| London, ON | 30 | 30 |
| Toronto, ON | 75 | 75 |
Methodology
Cell 1
375 recruits to yield 300 completes; testing twelve ‘Tobacco’ flavours in total; six placement visits in total; total test duration 24 days.
Cell 2
375 recruits to yield 300 completes; testing eleven ‘Mint’ flavours in total; six placement visits in total; total test duration 22 days.
Timing
Product packaging: 14 days
Pre-recruitment / placement: 28 days
Data collection: 30 days
Product
Per shipment, pods we received:
Mint = 4,400 (400 x 11 flavours)
Tobacco = 4,800 (400 x 12 flavours)
Device: N=400 ePod packs (device & charger per pack)
Respondent Engagement
We used mixed methodology for recruiting – Database, Online / Phone and Onsite Recruiting.
10 minutes pre-recruitment screening, and appointment logistics followed by 5 – 8 minute on-line self-completion for each flavour tested.
Visit #1: place device and flavour #1 and #2 for four days, consent form (2 copies), instruction/ flavour rotation sheet and checked ID.
Participant uses flavour #1 for two days and completes recall for flavour #1, they then uses flavour #2 for two days and complete recall for flavour #2.
Visit #2-6: as above place 2 flavours for four days of testing.
Final visit: collect device and remaining products.
Respondent Engagement:
Client programmed so we needed to ensure the correct targets per Cell / per rotation were met.
We completed 344 Mint & 338 Tobacco. (20 Mint & 19 Tobacco were paid, but data not useable) – termed by mistake or looping issues.
Based on the results gathered, the client was able to determine which variant was preferred by consumers.
Aref Munshi
VP, Research Services
From client services, to operations across telephone, in-person and on-site methodologies, Aref is the perfect client advocate and research problem solver.